Graham Silverstone RS Skeleton Chronograph Limited Edition

Besides the dazzling Geo.Graham model that was released a year ago, the high-tech Silverstone collection is, from where I sit, the most elegant in Graham’s product line. While different iterations of the Chronofighter and Prodive are too exaggerated, too extravagant for my taste, the Silverstone series has always been an example in sporty elegance. With its open-worked dial and nicely designed case, the new Graham Silverstone RS Skeleton (refs. 2STAC1.B01A in red, 2STAC2.B01A in green, and 2STAC3.B01A in blue) takes this elegance to a new level of sophistication.

So far, the watch is available in three versions that differ from each other only with the color accents on their dials and tire tread-styled rubber bands. Each limited to just 250 pieces, the watches are as deliberately massive as other “sporty” Grahams, but look very light thanks to their skeletonized, three-dimensional dials.

As you can see, the watch still sports the same bi-compax layout with a 30-minute chronograph totalizer at 3 hours and a small seconds indicator at 9 o’clock, but also allows you a view on its well-finished balance wheel and some other parts of the gear train.

Still, the watch is powered by a different engine. Called “Caliber G1790” and manufactured in Switzerland by a local partner of the British brand, the mechanism offers nothing groundbreaking in terms of functionality, but is nicely decorated with its shaded grey and rhodium-plated parts, open-worked plates and hand-decorated oscillating weight.

Even considering its exaggerated sportiness, the Silverstone RS Skeleton Chronograph may be considered too large for many. The problem is not only in its thickness, which is, by the way, not that intimidating compared to some similarly sized timepieces by other manufacturers, but rather in its impressive diameter that is only worsened by excessively long horns.

Measuring 46 millimeters in diameter, the watch not only covers practically all width of a normal wrist, but also shows way too much rubber with the usual for the racing-inspired chronographs tire tread motif. Yes, the straps with their thin strips of color accents look very ice matching the same visual emphasis on their dials; however they also make the timekeepers way too sporty making them almost impossible to wear with business suit unless you are a very eccentric CEO of an especially hip software company.

On the other hand, I feel obliged to give Graham its due when it comes to overall feeling of the watch. It makes an impression of a very solid object with all of its main elements deeply thought over and engineered with a lot of attention to even the smallest details.

The black bezel with its inevitable tachymeter scale is engraved using a font face that seems to match those chosen for other “functional” elements of the dial, including the chapter ring and Arabic numerals on the black sub-dial rings.

The hour and minute hands are quite wide that allowed the British brand to put just enough Superluminova for easy readability at night.

The way the machine-brushed surfaces are alternated by polished ones could be a bit boring if not its high level of execution.

The crown, while large enough for a firm grip, is short enough not to be a source of discomfort.

By the way, as you can see on the picture below, the stainless steel body of the Graham Silverstone RS Skeleton has an additional “porthole” at 10 hours that not only gives you an additional viewing angle at the mechanism, but also allows more light to come into the case thus making the ebauche look even better when viewed either through the front or the rear sapphire crystal.

Alas, like many watches of this, um, caliber, the timekeeper is not particularly affordable. So far, the watch is offered at an almost forbidding price of $14,580. Well, some things were meant to be expensive.